San Francisco recommendation 5: 826 Valencia Street
It could not be easier to get here. Exit hotel, get on BART at Powell Street Station, get off at 16th/Mission, walk 3 baby blocks west to Valencia, turn left/south, and walk 2.25 more blocks. If you keep going to 24th street, you can turn back to Mission and get back on BART at 24th/Mission.
www.826valencia.org
Paxton Gate: How to describe this store? A Goth gardening store? A 21st century shrine to 19th century natural-history mania? A highly curated hodgepodge? A cool place to poke around? And it’s right next door to the pirate store! 824 Valencia
www.paxtongate.com
Bookstores: Borderlands (sci fi/fantasy specialty; 866 Valencia); Modern Times (leftist/progressive; 888 Valencia); Dog Eared (used, some new; 900 Valencia).
Botanica Yoruba. Santeria supply shop. The real deal, not a tourist shop, though tourists are not unwelcome. 3423 19th Street, corner of Valencia.
Good Vibrations: SF's famous sex toy and sex book store. V comfortable place to hang out and browse toys and gear both familiar and new. Two locations in SF, this one (the flagship) and one at Polk and Sacramento, walking distance from the hotel, yay!
Also: many, many hip shops, boutiques, thrift stores, record stores, tattoo parlors, bars, restaurants, cafes, yadda yadda. The Mission is still scruffy and gang infested, but Valencia Street is ground zero for hipster SF. For better or worse.
While you are here, walk up to Dolores Street to Mission Dolores at 16th and Dolores. The Old Mission is one of the original string of 20 or so missions the Franciscans built along the length of California. It’s the oldest building in SF (built in the 18th C), and its cemetery and garden is a sweet, melancholy place. http://missiondolores.org
www.826valencia.org
Paxton Gate: How to describe this store? A Goth gardening store? A 21st century shrine to 19th century natural-history mania? A highly curated hodgepodge? A cool place to poke around? And it’s right next door to the pirate store! 824 Valencia
www.paxtongate.com
Bookstores: Borderlands (sci fi/fantasy specialty; 866 Valencia); Modern Times (leftist/progressive; 888 Valencia); Dog Eared (used, some new; 900 Valencia).
Botanica Yoruba. Santeria supply shop. The real deal, not a tourist shop, though tourists are not unwelcome. 3423 19th Street, corner of Valencia.
Good Vibrations: SF's famous sex toy and sex book store. V comfortable place to hang out and browse toys and gear both familiar and new. Two locations in SF, this one (the flagship) and one at Polk and Sacramento, walking distance from the hotel, yay!
Also: many, many hip shops, boutiques, thrift stores, record stores, tattoo parlors, bars, restaurants, cafes, yadda yadda. The Mission is still scruffy and gang infested, but Valencia Street is ground zero for hipster SF. For better or worse.
While you are here, walk up to Dolores Street to Mission Dolores at 16th and Dolores. The Old Mission is one of the original string of 20 or so missions the Franciscans built along the length of California. It’s the oldest building in SF (built in the 18th C), and its cemetery and garden is a sweet, melancholy place. http://missiondolores.org